


Scab and Plaster

by TheIttyBitty



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying, M/M, bully!dean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-13
Updated: 2014-05-13
Packaged: 2018-01-24 15:11:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1609604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIttyBitty/pseuds/TheIttyBitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean Winchester has been bullying Castiel for years.<br/>When Castiel helps Dean out, it all changes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scab and Plaster

**Author's Note:**

> Rated Teen for language.

Castiel Novak gets bullied.

Not an unreasonable amount. He doesn’t get the shit kicked out of him or anything like some kids, but he gets shoved a lot in hallways, tripped while trying to walk, called names. Things like that.

There's one boy in particular who seems to get extra satisfaction from causing Castiel discomfort. His name is Dean Winchester.

Dean Winchester bullies other kids too, but he seems to go out of his way to bother Castiel. Castiel doesn’t understand it, he's never done anything to Dean, never even talked to him, really, aside from when Dean is insulting him. One day he was walking down the hall, minding his own business, and Dean came up behind him and shoved him hard, making him fall and skin his knee, and the rest was history.

Castiel doesn’t know much about Dean, he seems to keep his cards close to his chest. He's not popular, or terribly well liked because he's rude and mean. He's also very good looking, but that can only take you so far.  
Castiel is seventeen now, and so is Dean. He only has a year left of high school before he can leave and never have to deal with Dean again. He just needs to survive it.

-o-

Castiel gets through almost all of the day Monday without seeing Dean. It's great. But then toward the end of school he's in the bathroom, washing his hands, and he hears the door open behind him. He doesn’t think anything of it until he straightens up to get a paper towel and looks in the mirror. Dean is standing behind him, mouth twisted into a mean smile.

“Hey, faggot.” he says, conversationally, right before he grabs Castiel by the collar of his shirt and slams him face first into the wall. He holds him there long enough to cause Castiel discomfort and knock his glasses off, and then he quickly lets him go and when Castiel gets his bearings and his glasses and turns around he's gone. Just gone. He apparently didn't even have to use the bathroom, so he must have come in just to bully Castiel. Fantastic.

 

Tuesday is worse. Dean shoves him twice in the hallway, once into a locker where he hits his head and once into a group of freshmen girls who shriek and give him dirty looks. Dean trips him on his way to his seat in both chemistry and English, and when Castiel is walking in the parking lot after school Dean almost hits him with his car on purpose.

When he gets home his mother asks him how his day went and he says fine because there's nothing anybody can do and he just wants to ignore it.  
The rest of the week passes. It sucks, but that's his life.

-o-

Saturday he wakes with a smile on his face, because Saturdays are _fantastic_. He did all of his homework last night so he has _all day_ to do what he wants. He doesn’t get out of bed until noon and when he does he stays in his pajamas, padding around the house in his bare feet eating pop-tarts. Anna has gone someplace and Gabriel is in his room playing video games so the place is fairly quiet.

For lunch they have sandwiches, all together in the kitchen, since Anna has just come home (she was out shopping). Later on their mother cooks dinner (broccoli casserole) and dessert (strawberry-rhubarb pie) and they eat it in the living room while watching tv. It's a good day.

 

Sunday starts out good as well. Castiel gets up early and when he goes downstairs is mother is making breakfast. She looks frustrated, though, and when Castiel asks her what's wrong she replies. “I forgot the darn eggs! Would you run to the store and get me some? You'll be my favorite son.” She winks.  
“Hey!” Shouts Gabriel, from the living room.  
Castiel chuckles, agrees, and puts on his shoes.

Castiel's car is a piece of shit. It's an ancient Honda that hasnt run well in years, but it gets him where he needs to go and that's really all he wants out of it.

He's thinking about the strange ticking noise its been making as he gets the eggs at the supermarket. He finishes paying and is exiting the building when he hears shouting nearby. He moves closer to the sound, slowly. When he sticks his head past the edge of the building, discreetly, he almost falls over in surprise. It's Dean Winchester and an older man who Castiel recognizes as Dean's father. They're fighting, screaming insults at each other. Castiel can't really make out what the fight is about, something about the older man drinking too much, and someone named Sam. Castiel is horrified, but not entirely surprised, when the Dean's father surges forward and punches Dean hard in the face. Dean falls and the older man spits something about “Good for nothing sons” and lumbers away.

Castiel is about to slip quietly away when he feels a drop of water hit his head. He looks up and it's raining, steadily getting heavier.

Dean has sat up now, he's facing away from Castiel. Castiel could still leave. He could. The boy sitting on the ground looking destitute is a bully, _his_ bully. He's been nothing but mean and hateful to Castiel since the first time they met and Castiel doesn't owe him _anything_. He will _not_ feel guilty for leaving him in the rain, he _won't._

Shit. He feels guilty. Like, really guilty.

Dean's father _hit him_. His _father_. That's not the kind of thing parents are supposed to do. Castiel's own father has been gone for years, but he's got his mother and she's the best parent he could ask for. She's kind and understanding and funny. She's always there for him, she always backs him up. As dorky as it sounds, she's one of his best friends. Dean... well he suspects that Dean doesn't have any of that.

Does that matter, though? He's made Castiel's life _hell_ for the past three years. Does having a shitty parent absolve him of all that meanness? No, no it doesn't. But... maybe it explains some of it? Maybe? Shit, it's so _complicated_.

Fuck it, Castiel decides, and he walks around the corner and toward Dean. Dean hears his footsteps on the sidewalk and he stiffens, but doesn't turn around. Castiel has no idea how Dean will react to this, so he stops a few feet from him.

“Dean?” he says. It comes out small and high, he sounds like a child.

Dean whips his head around, his eyes are red rimmed and there's blood dripping from his nose. When he sees who it is he gets quickly to his feet. There's a moment of vulnerability, of fear, in Dean's eyes before they close off and turn mean again. It's too late, though. Castiel has already seen too much to let this go.

They both stand there and stare for a long moment before Dean breaks the silence.

“What the fuck do you want?” He snaps. Now that Castiel has seen behind the meanness he can't help thinking that he sounds tired.

“I uh, I was... I was wondering if you-you needed a, um... a ride? You look like you could use a ride.”

Dean is looking at him like he's grown a second head. “What?” He asks, bewildered.

Castiel rolls his eyes and huffs, he's sure he's being very clear. “I'm offering to drive you somewhere!”

Dean's hands are limp by his side. He looks... confused, and sad. “Why?” he asks. And no, Castiel didn’t imagine it, Dean definitely sounds tired.

"Because I'm not a terrible person, okay? I don't know why you hate me but..." he swallows, and decides that if he's going to do this, he's going to do it all the way. "But _I_ don't hate _you._ " And once he says it, it seems true. He might have hated Dean before, but the boy in front of him now is broken, he's messed up, he's tired, and Castiel can't find it in him to hate Dean anymore.

"You _should_ hate me." Dean says quietly.

"Yeah, well, I don't. So... deal with that, I guess. Now, are you coming or not because I'm soaked and I need to get these eggs home so my mom can make breakfast."

"Okay." Dean says meekly, and follows Castiel to his car.

 

The ride is quiet, neither of them really comfortable enough to make small talk, until Dean says "This car is kind of a piece of shit."

Castiel frowns. "It gets me where I need to go."

"Well it might not for long, that sound is not good."

"Oh, and you know a lot about cars, do you?" Castiel says, sarcastically. He would never have talked to Dean like this at school, he'd get his ass kicked. But the balance has shifted. This is Castiel's territory and, besides that, Castiel has seen a different side of Dean and now he's having a really hard time being afraid of him.

"Yeah, actually, I do." Says Dean. "I work part-time at my dad's friend's garage. Speaking of which, turn left here."

"Where am I taking you?"

"Bobby's garage."

"Is Bobby your dad's friend?" Asks Castiel.

"Yeah. Yeah. My, uh, my brother and I stay with him sometimes."

"Your brother?"

"Yeah, Sam. He's thirteen. He's really smart. You, um.... you have any siblings?"

Castiel nods. "Two. A brother and a sister. Anna is four years older than me and Gabe is one year older. He graduates this year."

"Yeah? That's-that's cool."

"Yeah."

There drove in awkward silence for a few minutes until Castiel pulls into Bobby's Garage.

"Well, here we are." He says, putting the car in park.

Dean opens the door but doesn't get out.

"Hey, um, thanks man." He says, quietly. "You-you should bring your car in sometime and I'll take a look at it."

"Oh." Says Cas, surprised. "Yeah, I'll have to do that. Thanks."

Dean nods and gets, somewhat awkwardly, out of the car. He walks to the building and Castiel sees him look over his shoulder as he goes in. Castiel gives him a little wave that goes unreturned.

-o-

Things at school are different. They're the same but they're different. It seems that in giving Dean a ride he's turned things around, in a good way. Dean doesn't talk to him at school, but he's stopped harrassing him. The first couple of days it seems awesome, but after a while Castiel begins to feel like it isn't enough. It takes him a couple more days to work out what he needs to do, but once he's decided he's incredibly determined. He's going to be friends with Dean Winchester.

 

On Friday Castiel sees that Dean doesn't have a pencil in English and he offers him one of his own, along with a smile. He gets a small, hesitant smile in return, which is much more than he expected.  
That weekend Castiel is in an oddly good mood.

The next Monday Castiel waves at Dean when he sees him in the hall, the first time he does it Dean seems confused, but after that he receives little waves in return and, once, a grin.  
It's going much better than Castiel expected and so on Tuesday he decides to take things to the next level. He sitting with Charlie, Kevin, Garth, and Ash at their usual table. Kevin is doing homework, because he's Kevin. Ash is resting his head on his folded arms, napping, and Charlie is trying to convince Garth to come LARPing with her.

"Seriously," she's saying. "we do it every Saturday at Montgomery Park and we always need new members. You'll love it, I promise!"

And that's when Castiel spots Dean. He's been keeping an eye out. Dean usually sits by himself outside and, now that Castiel thinks about it, it's kind of sad. So as soon as Dean gets food Castiel sets to work catching his eye and waving Dean over. It isn't easy, he has to stand on the bench and when Dean comes over he's looking thoroughly confused. Castiel's friends are looking confused, too. Which, really, is to be expected. He probably should have told them about his plan to befriend Dean. Oh well, too late for that now, they'll figure it out. Probably.

"Hey!" Castiel says brightly when Dean gets there.

"Um, hey." Says Dean. He's shuffling his feet and if he were anyone else Castiel would say that he looks nervous, but this is Dean Winchester.

"You want to sit with us?" Asks Castiel.

Dean gapes at him. "I, uh, yea-yeah. Sure." He stammers.

Castiel smiles and scoots over on the bench to make room. Dean sits down beside him, looking uncomfortable.  
When Castiel looks up he realizes that his friends are all staring at him like he's nuts. It's completely understandable, as he just invited the guy who has tormented him for years to sit with them.

In an effort to relieve some of the tension he turns to Dean and asks "So, how is your brother?" Because he really doesn't know very much about the guy.

"Oh, um, he's good. They're doing the science fair at his school so he's pretty excited about that."

"Oh that's good! I'm sure he'll do something interesting. You know, I was thinking of bringing my car to Bobby's this weekend."

Dean perked up. "Okay, well I work from nine to four on Saturday if you can bring it in then."

"That'll be perfect!" Exclaims Castiel.

Their conversation proceeds that way and after a while his friends go back to their normal activities and Dean seems to relax a little.

When lunch is over Castiel waves and says "Bye, Dean!"

Dean waves back and says "Bye, Cas." In a quiet voice.

It's strange how much Castiel's interactions with Dean have changed in such a short time. Because Dean suddenly doesn't seem mean at all, and he's given Castiel a nickname.

He's also bewildered at the fact that Dean almost always seems nervous when they talk. He also seems... quiet, soft spoken, almost shy. It doesn't really track with what he knows of Dean but, then, he's never really talked to him before. Castiel begins to wonder if Dean is mean because it's easier than being socially awkward.  
After school Charlie catches him and pretty much demands to know what's going on. He relates to her everything that has happened, everything he knows about Dean, and his plan to befriend him. Charlie is skeptical at first but when Castiel tells her that Dean has completely stopped bullying him she gets on board. Castiel suspects that she's going to try and get him to LARP.

 

Castiel invites Dean to sit with them every day that week and, slowly, Castiel's friends and Dean start to relax around each other. Dean and Charlie actually hit it off pretty well because, although he hides it well, it turns out Dean is actually a bit of a closet nerd. He made the mistake of making a Star Wars reference one day and Charlie latched on like a sucker fish.

It's the day that Dean defends Castiel against another bully that Castiel invites him over to his house for the first time. They go there after school, Castiel in his Honda and Dean in his big black car. Castiel's family seems surprised, but pleased. Well, his mother and sister seem pleased. Gabriel seems suspicious because, although they don't hang out at school, he still knows Dean Winchester's reputation. Dean and Castiel eat pie in the kitchen while Castiel's mother shoots him significant looks and glances between the two boys. Castiel tries to convey to her, using eyebrow language, that he and Dean aren't together, and hopes she gets the message. Dean enjoys the pie an almost indecent amount.

They watch Game of Thrones in the living room sitting close together so that they can share popcorn.

When Castiel walks with Dean out to his car at the end of the night Dean looks like he wants to say something, but then doesn't.

 

On Saturday Castiel takes his car to Bobby's garage for Dean to look at. Bobby is a gruff man, but he seems to care for Dean (significantly more than his father seems to) so Castiel thinks he's alright. Castiel hangs out while Dean checks out his car, he mostly gets in the way but Dean doesn't seem to mind.

After Dean fixes his car (for free) the two of them go to Bobby's house. It's a sprawling house old house, pretty close to the garage. It's homey, lived in. A little cluttered, but not dirty.

Sam is there. He's tall for thirteen, with shaggy brown hair and hazel eyes. He's got a nice smile and he apparently has an easier time talking to people than his brother does, because he and Castiel hit it off great. They eat chicken nuggets and watch tv, Castiel and Dean sit next together again but this time there's no popcorn and Castiel has the insane urge to touch Dean's leg the whole time. He manages to keep his hands to himself, though, and they have a good time.

-o-

Over the next few weeks Castiel's friendship with Dean grows significantly. They spend an increasing amount of time together until Castiel is surprised to find that he might actually call Dean his best friend. Well, after Charlie, of course.

The change in Dean is dramatic. He's stopped tormenting other students almost altogether. The odd occasion he does something mean all it takes is a word from Castiel and he stops. It's an insane turn of events and if someone had told Castiel a month ago that he and Dean would become such good friends he would probably have slapped them in the face. Now, though, they barely go a day without talking.

There is something that has been bothering Castiel though, from the start, and he needs to know.

They're at Bobby's house when he decides to ask, sitting close together watching a soap that Dean is obsessed with about sexy doctors or something. Sam is on the porch doing homework and Bobby is still at the garage so he feels like now is a good time.

"Hey Dean?" He says.

"Yeah, Cas?" Says Dean. He turns away from the tv to look at Castiel, who kind of wishes he wouldn't because it makes this kind of awkward.

"I, uh, there's... there's something that's been bothering me and I... well I wanted to ask you about it."

"Okay, Cas. You can talk to me about anything." He says it so earnestly, it's beautiful.

"Well, it's kinda-kinda weird. I mean. Um." He stumbles over his words.

"Hey, man. It's okay, take your time." Says Dean. He puts a calming hand on Castiel's arm and squeezes gently.

"Yeah, well. Okay. Um, so, I know this is kind of weird question but..." he takes a deep breath and says the next part in a rush. "Why did you hate me so much, before? Why were you... so mean?" 

Castiel feels Dean freeze and his hand falls away from Castiel's arm, leaving it feeling cold.

"Oh." Says Dean. He sighs and rubs his hand over his face. "I... I didn't hate you, Cas."

"Well, then what?" Says Cas, confused.

"I... Okay. I'm going to tell you this and you have to promise to try not to hate me, okay?"

"I'm not going to hate you, Dean."

"Just promise, okay?"

Castiel nods. "I promise."

Dean sighs again. "Okay." He starts. "So I remember starting highschool and I didn't know anybody here and I'm not... I'm not good at talking to people. I never say the right things. I'm not- i'm not smart, okay. I'm not into sports. I'm not good at art or music or... anything really." Castiel shakes his head vehemently and starts to interrupt but Dean silences him with a look. "And I... well... I like... boys." He coughs and Castiel notices that he's blushing. "So I'm used to getting a lot of shit. So I got here and I kind of realized that it's so much easier to just be a massive dick to people. So, you know, that's what I did. I'm mean and nobody realizes how much I suck." He sucks in a large breath, steeling himself. "So, then I met you. Well, I kind of heard about you first. And you were gorgeous and smart and you could talk to people. You were talented and you had friends and you were openly gay and... just... you were everything I wanted to be and couldn't, and everything I wanted and couldn't have and it just... I dunno. Did the wrong thing. I wanted to talk to you but I was already mean and I just... couldn't stop? I don't know. I know it's all stupid and none of it makes sense but... that's ... that's what happened."

He blows out his breath and continues to stare at his hands, which is what he's been doing that entire speech.

Castiel just sits. That... actually makes sense to him. Not that's it's good, but he can sort of understand why it all happened. He puts his hand on Dean's shoulder and Dean looks up at him. "Insecurity can make people do some dumb stuff. It's alright. Everybody messes up. For what it's worth, you're not stupid. You're very intelligent, Dean. And-" Then it hits him. Wait just a goddamn minute. "Wait! Did you call me gorgeous?"

"Oh, uh." Says Dean. His eyes get wide and his face flushes red. "I, uh, no?"

"Yes you did! I heard you." Needles Castiel.

"Yeah, well, now you're hideous, so..."

"Um, no! You think I'm good looking! You do!"

Dean looks down again. "Well... yeah." He swallows.

Castiel clears his throat and begins to pick at his fingernails. "Well," He says. "I, uh, I think you're very handsome."

Dean looks up. His eyes are sweet and open and hopeful. "You do?"

"Yeah. I mean, now that you're done being a huge dick to me I would... I don't know... you're someone I would, maybe, consider going out with." He scratches his eye.

When he looks back at Dean there's a smile stretched across Dean's face. "You would go out with me?" Dean asks.

Castiel does his best to pretend that his heart isn't trying to burst out of his chest right now. "Maybe. Are you... asking?"

Dean's grin is so cute, and kind of contagious. Castiel finds his own mouth curling into a smile when Dean says "Maybe. Yeah, yeah, I'm asking."

"Yeah."

"Yeah?"

Castiel nods and they both sit there smiling at each other.

 

There's a bit of a ruckus later on when Sam comes back inside the house and finds them kissing on the couch, but it's just a "Ew, gross!" of the younger brother variety. He seems unphased to find that his brother likes kissing boys.

All in all, it's a pretty good day.

 

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr [here](http://frecklesandmisterblueeyes.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
